April!

This week I’d hoped to report on Dieppe’s 8th annual Fly Fishing Forum,
but Molly and I came down with a flu bug and couldn’t make the event, which I’m hearing was a great show. It was
just in time for Nova Scotia’s fishing season, which will open this Friday, April 1st.

April also means
the start of our lobster season, but I’m hearing that, due to rising gas prices and falling lobster prices, our lobster
fishermen may delay getting out there until mid-May. I’m told the rationale behind this thinking is to give lobsters
time to make their way inshore, which will save our fishermen considerable time and money chasing them way out offshore. Warmer
inshore waters are expected to increase lobster activity and improve catches as well. But the main reason is less expense,
after all, a big lobster boat is a bit of a gas guzzler.

Anyhow, because
this has never been tried here before, there’s a remote possibility that lobsters may just walk ashore and save us all
a lot of money. This unusual behavior is thought by scientists to be some variation on the spawning ritual, sort of like romantic
dining and dancing. Should it occur, I’m sure it will attract other diners as well. Moonlit June evenings on the beach
are recommended.

It’s a little early for biting insects, but scientists are telling us that we’re
in for a heavy blackfly season this year. The phenomenon is believed to be linked to global warming, resulting in more numerous
and larger blackfly hatches. Studies have also shown that the average weight of our blackflies has been slowly but steadily
increasing since the year 1995, and, if this trend continues, we may see blackflies as large as houseflies in the near future.
As my friend and neighbor Bruce Weir says, to embellish a fishing story, “The mosquitoes were like partridges”.